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From its conception during WWII as a salad growing business to the innovative root vegetable farmer and supplier it is today, Huntapac Produce Ltd( Huntapac) is making huge strides in reducing food waste; a bold move which has enabled the company to diversify and expand. Not only is it creating fresh new products from carrots and parsnips, Huntapac now delivers 88 percent for supermarket giant Tesco, and is their longest-serving fresh produce supplier.
Managing Director, Will Hunter, explains how the farm evolved and tells Food Chain more about its pioneering carrot powder line:“ My great-grandfather founded Huntapac in 1942,” he begins.“ We’ re a fourth-generation family business, including my father, his brother Jason, myself, and my brother Henry. I have an 18-month-old son, so there’ s a potential fifth generation in the works! About seven to eight years ago, we decided to stop producing the salads and brassicas that Huntapac initially began with, moving solely into carrots and parsnips. We have very strong relationships with our main retailers, Tesco and Marks & Spencer- we’ ve worked with M & S for 45 years, and Tesco has been our customer for 52 years.
“ We grow a lot of the produce ourselves: 80 percent of carrots and 60 percent of parsnips, the remainder of which is sourced from other growers. Everything comes back to our base in Preston, Lancashire, to be washed, packed and transported, so we have full control from end to end. Carrots and parsnips require a one-in-seven-year rotation, and for that reason we rent most of our land. We do, however, have bases in strategic locations across Norfolk, Shropshire, Yorkshire, and Lancashire, which house farm buildings and machinery. Norfolk is an area that we’ ve been expanding over the last three to four years, adding to this with a new farm building in 2025. Additionally, we carry out 90 percent of transport ourselves, pulling in subcontractors when we need that
extra resource during our key trading times, namely Easter and Christmas. Huntapac has about 600 employees, with 140 drivers in that number, and multi-site growth, from Suffolk, all the way up to the Black Isle in Scotland.”
Last year, Huntapac reached £ 80 million in turnover and plans to continue expanding on the farming side, following monumental growth in its factory and in transportation. Since working alongside Tesco and doubling the size of the business over the past few years, Will reveals the company is beginning to process its products, starting with diced and sliced carrots, with a view to supplying
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